A Prestwich chippy is asking customers to stop ordering cod

Dan Edwards, who owns Chips @ No.8 in Prestwich, has asked customers on Facebook to try something other than cod, the Manchester Evening News reports.

His worked example - He paid £24 a kilo on 29 October: £144 for a 6kg box. - After skin, bones and belly are trimmed off, what he can sell brings in a little under £228, about £84 more than the box cost. - After VAT (about £38 of the £228), that margin falls to around £46. - That is before wages, rent, card fees, packaging, energy, bins, batter and oil.

To make cod pay properly, he estimates it would need to sell for more than £20 a portion, which he won't charge. He would rather not switch to cheaper frozen fish either, and wants to keep buying Scottish.

The ask: cod lovers are being nudged towards haddock or coley, which he describes as great fish at a much better price.

Why it matters: he says his trade runs on habit. Families order weekly, and once a price tips too far they drift away and rarely return.

So what for your venue: this is menu engineering done in public. Cost your highest-volume dish from the whole delivered unit, not the usable yield, then decide whether to reprice, re-spec or steer guests. Being open about why can keep regulars on side.